Article ID: 947222 - Last Review: September 23, 2011 - Revision: 3.0

When you redirect the Documents folder on a Windows Vista-based or Windows 7-based computer to a network share, the folder name unexpectedly changes back to Documents

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SYMPTOMS

When you redirect the Documents folder on a Windows Vista-based or Windows 7-based computer to a network share, the folder name unexpectedly changes back to Documents. You expect the folder name to be the user name.

This behavior may create many Documents folders on the network share. If you try to rename one Documents folder, all the other Documents folders change to that name.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods.

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Method 1

Create a subfolder under the redirected folder in the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path. For example, use the following UNC path:

\\server\users\username\Documents

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Method 2

Grant the user exclusive rights to the redirected folder. To do this, follow these steps:

Log on to the computer by using domain administrator credentials.
In the Start Search box, type gpmc.msc, right-click gpmc.msc, and then click Run as administrator.

Note If you are prompted for an administrator password, type the password. If you are prompted for confirmation, provide confirmation.
Right-click the Group Policy Objects node, and then click New. Type the name of the policy. For example, in the New GPO dialog box, type Windows Vista Folder Redirection Policy.
Right-click the Group Policy object that you created in step 3, and then click Edit.
Under User Configuration, expand Windows Settings, and then expand Folder Redirection.
Right-click the Documents folder, and then click Properties.
On the Target tab, configure the following:
- In the Setting box, click Basic—redirect everyone’s folder to the same location.
- In the Target Folder Location box, click Create a folder for each user under the root path.
- In the Root Path box, type the UNC file path to which you want to redirect the Documents folder.
In the Documents Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab, and then configure the following:
- Click to select the Grant the user exclusive rights to Documents check box.
- Click to select the Move the contents of Documents to the new location check box.
Click OK.

For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsvista/en/library/fb3681b2-da39-4944-93ad-dd3b6e8ca4dc1033.mspx (http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsvista/en/library/fb3681b2-da39-4944-93ad-dd3b6e8ca4dc1033.mspx)

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Method 3

Do not grant the Read permission to the administrator for the Desktop.ini files on the server. To do this, follow these steps:

Note If more than one Desktop.ini file exists, follow these steps for all the Desktop.ini files.

Right-click the Desktop.ini file, click Properties, and then click the Security tab.
In the Group or user names pane, click Administrators.
Click to select the Deny check box for the Read permission.
Click OK.

For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx)

Note Method 2 works only for new users. To update the names of the existing folders on the server, we recommend that you use Method 3.

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STATUS

This behavior is by design.

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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to reproduce the behavior

Right-click the Documents folder, and then click Properties.
Under the Location tab, enter the UNC path of the network share to which you want to redirect the folder.

For example, enter a UNC path that resembles the following:
\\server\users\username
After you do this, the name of the Documents folder is supposed to change to the user name.

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